The comedian, who is said to have used an aggressive but legal tax-avoidance scheme, spoke out after Prime Minister David Cameron called his tax dodging “morally wrong”.

Carr was apologetic on micro-blogging site Twitter: “I appreciate as a comedian, people will expect me to ‘make light’ of this situation, but I’m not going to in this statement as this is obviously a serious matter.

“I met with a financial adviser and he said to me ‘Do you want to pay less tax? It’s totally legal’.

“I said ‘Yes’.

“I now realise I’ve made a terrible error of judgment.

“Although I’ve been advised the K2 Tax scheme is entirely legal, and has been fully disclosed to HMRC (Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs), I’m no longer involved in it and will in future conduct my financial affairs much more responsibly.

“Apologies to everyone.”

Carr’s statement came amid reports that he had bought his £8.5 million three-storey home in north London outright and had not taken out a mortgage.

Meanwhile, tax experts and politicians have outlined a series of changes to legislation and Government policy needed to tackle tax avoidance.

Richard Murphy, a chartered accountant and director of Tax Research UK, said the solution lies in introducing a principle which allows HM Revenue and Customs to strip out “artificial steps” and address the underlying economic “mismatch” between earnings and taxation.

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